A. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of sports training devices, and in particular to devices which are used in training ball players to accurately swing a bat or other striking object at a moving ball. In the preferred embodiment, the invention focuses on the targeting aspects of a swing in order to teach baseball and softball players the correct swing to effectively and repeatedly hit moving baseballs and softballs. The invention improves hand-eye coordination and timing and is particularly directed to training a batter to judge the trajectory of the ball and position the body properly so that the "sweet-spot" of the bat (i.e., the region of the bat that delivers the most impact) strikes the ball.
B. The Background Art
The prior art includes various devices for training athletes. Devices for training baseball and softball players to use a proper swing include that disclosed by Deveney (U.S. Pat. No. 4,746,118, issued on May 24, 1988) and Stringham (U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,765, issued on Nov. 17, 1981), each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. The devices disclosed in the Deveney and Stringham patents are used to train the batter to keep his eyes on the ball by keeping his head in a fixed position with respect to his forward shoulder (i.e. shoulder closest to pitcher). Gillespie et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,142, issued on May 19, 1992) discloses a device which is used to hold the upper or lead arm of a batter close to the body throughout the swing to produce a proper stance. None of these prior art devices solves the problem of training a batter judge the trajectory of the ball and to position or aim his body with respect to an oncoming pitched ball prior to swinging so that the batter ultimately will accurately swing the sweet spot of a bat into the oncoming ball.